The worst mistake general manager Chris Drury and team brass could make is overreacting to Patrick Kane’s decision to forgo free agency and stay in Detroit on a one-year contract extension.
Because unless Steven Stamkos hits the market and No. 91 is who the Rangers target to fill the right wing spot next to Mika Zibagint and Chris Kreider, there’s no one else on the list of free agent right wingers worth the signing bonus.
None of Tyler Bertuzzi, Jake DeBrusk, Jonathan Marchessault or Tyler Toffoli would have been able to make a difference against the Panthers, and that is the only criterion management will use to evaluate potential additions.
The Rangers have enough cap space to fill out their 2024-25 roster, but they’ll be in a deep bind next season. Drury can’t afford to give multi-year contracts to the middle-six players who will be asked to play for the BFF.
While it’s mathematically true that there are 31 teams the Rangers need to beat, in reality there is only one team they need to beat: Florida. Florida has beaten the Bruins twice in the past two playoff appearances, and the Hurricanes, Rangers, Maple Leafs and Lightning once each. This isn’t a rogues gallery. These are Eastern powerhouses that have lost to the reigning Cup champions multiple times.
Marchessault is probably the player closest to making a difference against Paddy Tutts, having scored four goals against Florida in the 2023 finals en route to the Conn Smythe Trophy with the Cup champion Golden Knights, but his price tag would likely be prohibitive at 33. Plus, he’s 5’9 and I don’t think going small is his goal.
Bertuzzi will generate plenty of interest as a semi-physical winger, but it would be a mistake to sign the 29-year-old, 6-foot-1, 190-pound player with the expectation that he will be a difference-maker. Here’s why.
Two years ago, Bertuzzi was traded to Boston at the deadline from Detroit to the record-holding Bruins, who blew a 3-1 lead and lost to the Panthers in the first round. Bertuzzi then signed a one-year free agent contract with Toronto last summer, who lost to his former team, the Bruins, in the first round.
This guy is not a difference maker in the playoffs, he has failed twice in the last two years, and if the Rangers are going to shell out big bucks on Bertuzzi just because he might be their best player, I don’t know what to say.
Just because the Rangers have plenty of cap space when the final bell rings on Monday doesn’t mean the organization has to empty its pockets. Cap space is more precious during the season. It’s never more precious than at the deadline. Difference-makers are sure to be up for grabs during the season and at the deadline.
Again, the challenge is to go from two wins to four in the conference finals and from 10 to 16 overall in the tournament. The Rangers don’t need any more guys who can get through an 82-game season. They have a bunch of kids in Hartford who took a chance with their noses out the window. It’s much better for coach Peter Laviolette to give them a chance than the club having a bunch of high-paid veterans on multi-year deals.
If I can’t sign Stamkos — and hey, that’s not a long shot — I’d look at Brennan Osman alongside Zibanejad, or maybe Wil Caille on the right wing. The Rangers don’t need to have a perfect lineup on Opening Day. They don’t need to have a perfect lineup on Christmas Day. The Rangers have to have a perfect lineup after the trade deadline.
Monday is the day Jacob Trouba’s no-trade clause becomes part of the 15-team no-trade list, and with the club’s intentions widely reported in newspapers and online last week, the captain is clearly feeling hurt, and rightly so.
But it would be counterproductive for Trouba to pout and try to make it as difficult as possible for the Rangers to make a trade. Trouba has always been hardline in contract negotiations. After the Blueshirts acquired the defenseman from Winnipeg with one year remaining on his deal ahead of his potential free agency in 2019, he was able to get an advantage over then-general manager Jeff Gorton, and he used that advantage to earn his current seven-year, $56 million contract with two years remaining.
The Rangers, favored by a restrictive no-trade clause, decided they couldn’t afford to pay an $8 million cap hit for a defenseman projected to be on the third pairing, never mind his valiant captain who played through a broken ankle in the playoffs.
If Trouba doesn’t agree to a trade to Detroit, which seems likely now, he will end up going somewhere else, likely via webinar. The decision has been made.
